Plex preinstalled on Sony’s upcoming Google TV devices

Sony hearts Plex: The CE maker will deliver its next generation of Google TV devices, scheduled to be released in the U.S. and beyond this summer, with the Plex app pre-installed to give users simple access to local media and add cloud media sharing to the Google TV platform.

A customized version of the Plex Google TV app surfaced on Google Play a few days ago, and the Plex team added a few words of explanation after some of its users were confused by the fact that this new app isn’t compatible with any of the Google TV devices currently available. The new app description now reads:

“This application is ONLY available for download on late model 2012 Sony Internet TVs.”

The Plex team confirmed that this app will in fact be pre-installed on Sony’s next-generation Google TV devices when asked about the listing, but wasn’t available to provide any further details at this point. Sony announced at CES that it will ship a Blu-ray player and a set-top-box with Google TV on board this summer in the U.S. and several other countries. New reports indicate that the devices will go on sale in Europe in September.

Getting selected as a pre-installed app on Sony’s new devices is a big deal for Plex, which currently has between 10,000 and 50,000 active Google TV users, according to publicly available Google Play data. But Sony should benefit from this partnership as well. Most notably, Plex allows Sony to add media sharing to its devices, making it possible for Sony Google TV owners to access each others’ photo collections as well as share music and videos through the MyPlex service.